Aerosaurus

Aerosaurus Temporal range: Early Permian, 295 Ma PreЄ Є O S D C P T J K Pg N ↓
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Life restoration of Aerosaurus wellesi
Scientific classification
Kingdom:	Animalia
Phylum:	Chordata
Clade:	Synapsida
Family:	†Varanopidae
Subfamily:	†Varanodontinae
Genus:	†Aerosaurus Romer, 1937
Species
†A. greenleeorum Romer, 1937 (type) †A. wellesi Langston & Reisz, 1981

Aerosaurus (meaning "copper lizard") is an extinct genus within Varanopidae, a family of non-mammalian synapsids. It lived during the Early Permian in North America. The name comes from Latin aes (aeris) (combining stem: aer-) “copper” and Greek sauros “lizard,” for El Cobre Canyon (from Spanish cobre “copper”) in northern New Mexico, where the type fossil was found and the site of former copper mines.

File:Aerosaurus.jpg

Skull of Aerosaurus

See also

• List of pelycosaurs

References

• Romer, A. S. 1937. New genera and species of pelycosaurian reptiles. Proccedings of the New England Zoological Club XVI: 90-96.
• The main groups of non-mammalian synapsids at Mikko's Phylogeny Archive